Comments

Wow, I had not heard this! Definitely would've been an interesting addition to this piece.
'Tanith have a whole ALBUM out?!' - me upon seeing Tanith on this list, .25 seconds before realizing that it's the same two-song EP I've had since April. Shout out to Citadel though, easily the catchiest music I've heard all year, across all genres.
"aural Lacroix" is too perfect. I love you ButtHash
"Bloodstain" has some of the best drum programming of all time.
I grew up a 45-minute ferry ride away, and can also attest to the massive crater "A Milli" left behind when it careened into the area's high school dances
Freudian slip on that Joey Bada$$ title?
The '80s called... they want all of "Hot Fuss" back. Springsteen called... he wants all of "Sam's Town" back.
Great article. I've never seen my opinion of, "Illmatic is a definite classic, but current rappers should steer clear of any attempt at replicating it," explained so well.
I don't think it was until "We Were Dead..." that the poppy elements started bothering me. What did bother me about this album is the beginning of their skronk-folk sound, with banjos, "King Rat" and all of that. The trio of "Dance Hall," "Bukowski" and "This Devil's Workday" (confound those infernal horns!) all dip into this sound. MM's early folky moments were cooler to me because they weren't as cleanly produced and they used additional instruments sparingly and wisely (those amazing strings on "Lounge" and "Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset" for two "Long Drive.." examples). These days it sort of seems like Brock and Co. take a "fuck it, throw in a hurdy gurdy" approach to composition. It might just be a personal bias, but that's the main thing that's irked me about my favorite band over the last ten years of their career. I still have faith that the ~2014 album will hold some cool surprises though.
Wow, whichever one of them is doing the vocals has been keeping their spot-on Robert Smith impression a secret up until now.
Yeah, this is the song responsible for misting my eyes. May just be a momma's boy, but damn, the man can really hit you right in the sad spot. And re:Red House Painters... "Have You Forgotten?" is still the Koz song that makes me "bawl so hard" the most.
El's never made a bad album, but I'll Sleep When Your Dead is surely his magnum opus. Spot on.
Juicy J also "made it rain" on Arsenio a few months ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDKNonheMaQ
"the entire 'emo revival,' which seems like straight-up Coachella-bait, is absent." Ummm... Title Fight anyone?
More like Sun Kil Swoon...
I usually resent all of your attempts to draw parallels between artists (the recent Blood Orange/Dr. Dre one fell particularly flat), but the Beatles/Radiohead comparison is spot-on
Am I the only one who likes The Grey Album better? I'm not DangerMouse's biggest fan or anything, I just think that album is amazing. No one will ever make such great beats out of Beatles songs ever again. Don't get me wrong, Black Album has lots of great production on it, but it's sound is scattered as fuck. It's like if you put Danny Brown's "Old" in a blender and the track order stopped making sense. Maybe this is kind of all boiling down to the fact that I think Rick Rubin's beat on "99 Problems" is obnoxious and that mashing it up with "Helter Skelter" was one of the best ideas since flint met tinder.